Thursday, October 08, 2009

Red Squirrels gaining ground

I was going to blog on David Cameron's speech tonight, but it was pretty much as I expected - very very good, with a commitment to treat the war in Afghanistan as a war deserves to be treated, with a 'War Cabinet'. It also covered personal stuff that I could never have spoken without cracking up. An amazing level of emotional control. What I enjoy most about a Cameron speech is the flat refusal to wear the clothes that his opponents try to dress him in. Its great to hear the Conservative Party speaking with more credibility than Labour about tacking poverty - with a standing ovation! I can face up to all those who have over the years described me as a 'pink Tory', and stand proud as a 'mainstream' Conservative. Terrific stuff, but only what I expected. So I'm going to blog about red squirrels - one of my long standing favorite issues.

There is no more lovely creature living wild in Britain than the red squirrel - but its no longer living in enough of it. I'm a great supporter of all efforts to reverse its decline, which involves the removal of the grey squirrels. On Ynys Mon there has been a successful campaign to remove the greys from the whole island, which was a prerequisite for the successful reintroduction of the red. The good news is that there are now plans to pull off the same transformation on the Gower. For me, this is exciting news. There are some type of reds that I want to see prosper.

The #1 letter published in today's Western Mail is directed to "IP Wales" - how one Welsh company is strategically acquiring key patent rights that equate closely with its marketing strategy. Way to go! In fact, its the way to go.